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Students

Volume 921: debated on Thursday 2 December 1976

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asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many students claimed supplementary benefit during the last Christmas and Easter vacations; how many of these students were married; how many had children; how many were known to be staying with parents also claiming supplementary benefit; and how many of the students within each of these groups would not have been eligible for benefit if the provisions contained in the Social Security (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill had been in force at the time.

About 145,000 and 175,000 students, respectively, of whom some 128,000 and 142,000 are estimated to have spent the vacations with their parents, or otherwise as non-householders. It is not known how many parents were also claiming supplementary benefit, nor how many students were married or had children, but the numbers were undoubtedly small. Most of them would have been ineligible under the terms of the Bill, except that we intend to preserve by regulations the entitlement of lone parents and the disabled.